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Thanks for all the notes above. The bizarre thing is programmatica ads means as the story of me suing facebook got bigger, more of these ads came out of the woodwork. I'm talkign with my legal team about how to approach them.

Facebook though has been doign it more and logner and on notice far more than the rest.

Facebook’s arrogance is astounding - I wish you luck Martin with your action and hope it will go some way towards making them re-think about their attitude. The way they allow personal data to be used in such manipulative ways by companies such as Cambridge Analytica is actually quite shocking.

Delighted to see that Martin and his solicitors have put together such a strong case for making Facebook answerable to the English High Court for its misbehaviour. It's long overdue but it takes someone with a great deal of resources, moral courage and determination to launch such a challenge.

Please don't give up this lawsuit unless you get absolutely watertight, properly-secured guarantees which actually prevent such abuses in future. In any settlement agreement, only have the case stayed - NOT dismissed - while putting any promises from Facebook to the test.

Good for you Martin!!! I hope you give them hell!!!
They have REFUSED to investigate & pull down over 100 FAKE PROFILES that is being made of my daughter - to her detriment- by a "known" male! Yet even the Cyber Action Group & police even refuse to do anything about! This has been going on for over 8 years now! Not to mention the other 6 or so other girls (that we know of) that this same person is doing fake profiles of too! Yet Facebook still refuse to ban him - even though he has been named!
So you damn well go for it and beat Facebook - it will be a victory for ALL of us that Facebook ignore!!!!

They have REFUSED to investigate & pull down over 100 FAKE PROFILES that is being made of my daughter - to her detriment- by a "known" male! Yet even the Cyber Action Group & police even refuse to do anything about!

Yes this is a major problem with facebook. They require no proof of ID to sign up so trouble makers, stalkers, scammers, whoever can make fake profiles of people and abuse their identity in however way they see fit - or just bully them. It doesn't just happen to famous people who can have their reputation abused in a scam.

If Martin wins this case I do hope it has carry over effects to this sort of thing where facebook will be held responsible for allowing this on their platform as well as paid for ads. Reporting said fake profiles frequently does not result in anything happening at all.

It's all well and good Facebook saying that if you see an advert then let us know and we'll remove it, but who realistically has the resources to scour Facebook continually looking for fake adds ?? That's a full time job for a team of people. And even then, they'll just pop up again somewhere else.

Surely the onus should be on Facebook to screen the adds before publishing them (for that is what they are doing) and not put the onus on the injured party to report.

They're just generic spammers though, not using the image of another well known person.
It does raise a curious question of how MSE would deal with it if these spammers started posting their images & links on the forum here, and no board guides or other members reported the posts. (Wouldn't happen though spammers, so don't waste your time.)

Facebook are making money by being a significant, knowing and willing step in the process that only exists to exploit money from people, while doing damage to others along the way.

While this is unacceptable in itself, hiding behind the excuse that it isn't a publisher definitely doesn't absolve it of any responsibility.

I think Martin is absolutely right to follow this course of action. I think Facebook will fight it as it could have serious knock on effects for the rest of its business/functions but if it makes it act more responsible it can only be a good thing.

Martin has put lots of hard work into helping vast amounts of people. If there was a way of giving a donation to help with the legal costs i will gladly do it. MSE let me know.

Surely, FB, Yahoo, Microsoft, the newspapers et al are benefitting from the "proceeds of crime" by carrying these fraudulent adverts, some of which, if not all, may be linked to international organised crime or even to terrorist organisations.

Maybe your legal team could look at that aspect of things and, since the authors of these adverts are most cetainly overseas and largely anonymous or untraceable, the only recourse is to pursue the media platforms themselves and to let THEM make a case against the authors.

These media outlets could not care less about the truth when it comes to posting adverts, they're blinded by the profits that they're making, the ONLY solution, as I see it is to hit them where it hurts with punitive and exemplary damages, an avenue that you are currently pursuing, maybe seeking to confiscate assets under Proceeds of Crime legislation, or even contravention of the Human Rights Act, for as long as it is part of UK law.

Better yet, you may wish to consider hitting them on as many fronts as possible, simultaneously, until they stop acting as accessories to criminal acts.

It's not the same and it depends how well it works; Facebook relies on community-policing but it is slow and often simply does not work meanwhile it can be extremely damaging to individuals and businesses. That does not mean it cannot work, there are numerous platforms that deal with these things swiftly and efficiently.

I'm delighted Martin is suing Facebook. I was scammed last year after seeing an add purporting to be from him on Watchdog extolling the virtues of Cloud Trader. I lost £13k and my father who is over 90 lost an excessive amount. One of my credit card providers has refunded my money but the other provider has refused (how they interpret Section 75 differently beats me). Perhaps Martin can explain that.

i have noticed via my partners Facebook that various ads have been supposedly liked by myself, however this isnt true and i havent Liked them at all.
they dont show on my facebook account that i have clicked 'like' only other peoples pages.
i have notified Facebook on several occasions regarding this issue to which i haven't received any response or explanation.

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